Joginder Singh has been hailed a hero on both sides of the world after running twice the length of a marathon to raise cash for tsunami disaster victims.

The 52-year-old made an emotional journey to his home village of Khanowal in India to complete the fund-raising feat.

The father-of-three from Flockton Road, West Bowling, jetted out from Bradford to run the 50 miles from the Golden Temple in Amritsar to Khanowal.

Mr Singh regularly completes marathons and wanted to support the victims of the tsunami disaster.

The idea for the route came from his fellow members of the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Temple off Leeds Road, Bradford.

A group flew out to India last month to organise the event with the help of the Indian Police and the commissioner of Khanowal.

Joginder's journey started at 4am outside the Golden Temple and ended ten hours later at the Khanowal, the village where he was born.

He has been training for the event by running from the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Temple to Leeds city centre

and back twice in one run - a journey of 50 miles.

The route normally takes 11 hours and Joginder, who works at Bradford University's sports centre, finds time for his training by running through the night three times a week.

But he admitted running in the winter weather here had not prepared him for the searing heat he was to face in India.

He said: "On that day it was hot, too hot. When we started at 4am it was OK but after about five hours it became very hot but I did not think about stopping. I was determined to do this.

"After watching what had happened to these people on the television I decided I wanted to do something to help them."

Joginder was joined on his marathon effort by the assistant general secretary of the Guru Gobind Singh

Sikh Temple Ranbir Singh Rai,

who completed the first seven miles of the route.

The run was protected by a police convoy of motorbikes, and officers from both India and the UK took part in sections of the run.

Despite the heat, Joginder managed to finish an hour quicker than he expected, in ten hours.

And he received a hero's welcome when he arrived home in Khanowal where he was presented with a trophy for his efforts.

Ranbir said: "Along the way everyone was coming to watch, and children were standing at the door and clapping him. The day before we had been to the village to arrange the event. Joginder has many friends there.

"Everyone at the Guru Gobind Singh Sikh Temple is very proud of him. He does so much hard work for the temple and we hope he will continue to run in the future but he says it is up to god."

Now Joginder is to receive further praise at a special ceremony which will be held in his honour at the temple on Sunday.

His run raised cash in India but now organisers want to raise more money from the Bradford community. Anyone who wants to sponsor him should contact Ranbir Singh Rai on (01274) 664163 or 0781 7775494.

He said that £27,000 has already

been collected from the city's Sikh community in response to the Boxing Day tragedy.